


And Then There Were Four

by PaintedYertle



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Blood, Clown Hunting, Gen, Meteorstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-24 17:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1613219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedYertle/pseuds/PaintedYertle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanaya found the most difficult feat in this game wasn’t the fighting or ingenuity or even loss of life but to be the one to retain morality in any situation. To know if you truly have the right to do the right thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then There Were Four

**Author's Note:**

> No violence, really, just blood here and there. And there. And underneath there, in the hard to reach places. The aftermath of Act 5, so major spoilers there. Also mild swearing because Karkat and Gamzee.

          Now in the pause of their world-building game, it seemed the meteor-ship had calmed and quieted, so all that was left on the agenda was to find and remove the corpses. Needless to say it was an unsavory task to volunteer for. Blood dries fast so it had stained the walls and tiled floors of most of the rooms. In the weeks since they’ve arrived only a portion of the mess could be taken care of. It may have been due to ratio of the unclean area versus the six procrastinating teenagers (and one preoccupied Carapace) left to tend to the aftermath of the murder and mayhem. After some time it left behind a stark stench of this rock decaying from the inside out. The scent was something most on the crew were familiar with, but newer otherworldly residents wouldn’t grow into this new home as fast. Thus far they’ve all taken to distracting themselves with an internet that will never update.

          That only leaves Kanaya, who found a note Gamzee had left for her, finger-painted in her own blood and the blood of the boy she killed. She knows it must have been written before he was calmed down, when the fluid from her lower torso was still a puddle on the floor. Still, that also implies it was in the midst of stealing Feferi’s corpse from the horn pile in the same room. Gamzee, the one who caused more than a third of the mess, had collected the bodies one by one for himself. For the moment the crew considers him harmless.

          It was written on the back of a torn cover to a pack of chalk. Terezi must be furious.

          The note read:

THAT HURT. WWhy’d y’all look at me like that?  WWHAT'D I MOTHAFUCKIN DO WRONG? Didn’t do wwhat you wwouldn’t do.  IT'S UNFAIR, KAN. It’s all unfair and nobody mothafuckin understands.

:0(

          The words irked the very actual hole in her stomach. Kanaya folded her arms over her waist in the mirror. It was bleeding again. Jade green had once again seeped through a clean outfit. It was the pink dress this time.

          Her jaw clamped so tight her pointed teeth could sink into her lower lip. They could crack both from the pain and frustration. The choice of words on the note discharged adrenaline in her veins, making her unsure if her shaking was from anger or blood loss. After Eridan hopesploded their only opportunity for a future with his ignorance and selfish embrace of his heritage keeping him alive was detrimental in her eyes. He would eliminate down the scale one by one until he was forever alone. She tossed his cape in the furnace without Karkat’s permission. It reflected its owner: filthy with blood. She did not want a single one of his mementos.

          The last Kanaya had seen of Gamzee was when she had entered a room as their leader, the only one merciful enough to near the clown, was swathing his scar with a fresh white towel. Even clean the claw marks raked across his face from another of his victims still looked fresh. It split when he smiled, three caverns starting from above his eyebrow across the bridge of his nose to his lower cheek. The smudged white face make-up of his faith came off on the cloth with the other colored splotches. Frustrated, Karkat settled on removing the whole thing from Gamzee’s face and reapply it for him. It was the first time she’d seen him clean, with the same dark grey skin underneath as the rest of them.

          While waiting Gamzee’s fingers fidgeted with the lose parts of his clown pants, faded blood splatters mottled in with the pokadots. His eyes rotated directly to Kanaya, and though he squinted at her rainbow-drinker shine the lack of dazed eyes let her know he was sober. The shadows the light marked in his face overshadowed any friendliness clearly once present. He took the towel from Karkat, crumbling it in his hand. Her eyes recognized the cloth was stolen. Not from her own quarters but from the stack in still in Equis’s. The blue-blood had no use for them now. She willed herself to keep composure while facing his lazy grin holding no hint of regret. She hears that very same smile in the note he wrote.

          The clown walked over took her hand and pressed the dirtied belonging into her palm.  He smiled so wide indigo liquid dripped down his nose. The words Kanaya wanted to release were searing through her mind. She’d spit every one directly in his wounds if it would accomplish anything. She was unable to hurt him. Not when his morail was watching. Not when their species can’t afford to lose another member, even if the one in question intends to wipe it out. Karkat looked on but seemed ignorant to the encounter.

          Until recently Kanaya has been the calm center of the group. She never entertained the idea of the good-cop bad-cop game Terezi was so fond of. But she can’t be the good one now. Not with him. Kanaya found the most difficult feat in this game wasn’t the fighting or ingenuity or even loss of life but to be the one to retain morality. To know if you truly have the right to do the right thing.

          Damn him. Damn this ship. Damn this Game, however it came to be, and the perils it plagues onto them. Damn the winged monster that sliced a gap into their earned victory. Damn the black ideals and wrath which created him. Damn all the planets and universes they painstakingly built and damn the beings they dragged into the Game with them. And it was that smile, that crooked bemused smile, which was in the utmost dire need of damnation.

          Kanaya’s wardrobifier switched her outfit to the one she “died” in, the one with a hole torn in the middle, to check her wound. Stains always stick out on black, so the shirt was ruined by green and violet splotches. Lifting the messy shirt up, the reflection in her mirror told her the circular gash her stomach was healing, closing in on itself, but gradually. The skin was shredded around the hole. The bleeding had lessened and the pain had subsided to a dull ache. Looking closer into the mirror wall behind her could be seen through her stomach hole. Thank goodness the disappearing reflection was a myth.

          Kanaya looked down at her lipstick set beside her other accessories.

          There was only one option: more clown hunting. Or, rather, clown foraging. Retrieve what he stole. Not harm him, just take back what he doesn’t own. Kanaya won’t bother to dwell to his dark mind on what he wants with them. She doesn’t even know what her next action would be if she succeeds in taking them back. Hand them over to Aradia, maybe, to have her little Corpse Party? But that could lead to Gamzee to have a new target during Rage Mode. Though Karkat has been keeping an eye on him, and if Gamzee moves even a toenail out of line he’d flip is shit. Something like that could get Karkat on her side. No matter the option she must save her living comrades. Through this strange and evocative emotion known as teamwork.

          Despite the size of the meteor’s interior there were few options to hide a dead body. Gamzee is known to reside in the vents, but keeping them there would permeate the rancid stench throughout the ship. And he must leave there every once in a while. He has to eat. He has to relieve himself. She would rather be face to face with him than allow him time to tempt her any further.

          She switched to another dress and moved to exit her quarters, taking her lipstick with her. She walked to the door pressed the button and exited the room, wishing so hard the sliding doors were capable of slamming. Almost immediately after entering the hall she heard echoing stomps from afar. Without the need to turn Kanaya was aware of who was approaching her.

          “Kanaya, good thing I ran into you!” said Karkat.

          Kanaya slid her lipstick into the pocket of her skirt, turning with a smile,“Oh?”

          Karkat appeared how he often did, irritated with circles under his eyes. “Yeah, you haven’t seen Terezi around, have you?”

          She moved back slowly, looking up to feign thinking back. “Not recently, no. I assume she went off to play with Dave and the lovable wrapped carapace fellow.” It was strange, she was just now becoming used to not referring to him as “The Dave Human”.

          “You would _think_ but he and his compatriot have been asleep in their rooms for the past few hours. I even saw him cocooned in his cape like a molting wriggler. The humans have these deranged sleep patterns. I mean, the sleep while the sun is _down_?! How do they get anything accomplished?! But Thank fucking Christ anyway. Ever since they reached God Tier all they’ve been doing is flaunting their rejuvenation powers around like unchecked boonbucks until they both crashed. I’ve been listening to Strider ad nauseam at all hours. I should be anointed to fucking sainthood!” His yelling echoed down the hall, surely scaring away any clowns nearby like birds. He sighed. “So what have you been up to?”

          Kanaya did not have the heart to inform him of her hunt. With his and Gamzee’s recently replenished morailship there’s no doubt he would want to convince her to stop. “Oh, you know, just wandering about, I suppose.”

          “Yeah, good luck with that. We could scour the whole place for our entire three sweep-year sentence and still never map out the whole place, given half the transportalizers are either busted or can only be accessed through certain people. Which has to be the most _specific_ design flaw on this accelerating rock. Wouldn’t be surprised if whoever built this place was inebriated half the time. But it’s the only form of entertainment around here.” He looked back at her again. “So hey, anyway, if you’re not doing anything would it be okay if you helped me look for her?”

          The most technologically savvy among them was Karkat and for the last week he’d been fiddling around with exposed wires.

          She folded her hands in front of her to remember where they left off in the conversation before his latest rant. “While I see your concern, I don’t believe Terezi could have gotten herself into a good deal of trouble.”

          “Yeah, I know, but I guess I’ve gotten antsy when I lose track of her after what we went through a couple weeks ago. Leave everyone alone for ten minutes and...” he trailed off.

          Kanaya couldn’t help but be concerned, as she usually is for everyone. Karkat does this in different ways, pushing himself until the remainder of his energy drains out. She felt similarly to the situation (keeps the matriorb locked up throughout the entire game and the one time she puts it aside…) but she won’t dwell on it or blame herself like he does. However she did not place the responsibility of leadership over her head. “Where have you searched thus far?”

          Karkat shrugged. “Who even knows around here? All I know is she’s not in the lounge or ectobiology lab. I was right about to head over to where we keep the stuff we hunted from the Game.”

          That room was a collection of what they had hunted in Sgrub. After the attacks the majority of them had been smashed out of their tanks and disposed of.

          “Say, have you happened to run into Gamzee on this search?” Kanaya asked. Secrets were not a specialty of hers.

          “No, but I messaged him earlier.” said Karkat.

          “Did you?”

          “Yeah.”

          “What is he up to?”

          “He’s better than he was.”

          For once, Karkat did not elaborate. She didn’t want to question further, so he would not become suspicious. So they left it at that.

          “Well then, Karkat, I wouldn’t mind accompanying you,” Kanaya said, “But along the way I would appreciate it a great deal if you helped me clean up along the way.”

          In aversion to physical labor he groaned a bit, walking forward down the hall ahead of her. “Yeah, okay, I guess we could help each other out.”

          Kanaya quickened her pace to his side. Moving too fast would sometimes make her light-headed or become painful to her wounds. At times she would hold her head between her knees to keep the blood flowing.

          She kept her ears open for unnatural noises. Grates were located along the stretch of the corridor. As they passed each one all she could see was darkness behind them. The sole sound was the hiss from the vents. That’s all it ever was when silence came. It was the ship letting out a breath and never drawing one in. Keeping them aware it was still functioning, still with them. With her chainsaw-lipstick in her pocket her goal was still apparent to track down the clown.

          While she was distracted Kanaya turned back to notice Karkat’s eyes shifting to her slightly, about to mention something, but withdrawing and averted her gaze. This was a rarity, Karkat holding back what to say.

          “Is there something you’re afraid to ask me, Karkat?”

          Karkat flinched in hesitation. “Uh, sort of. Just, like, are you able to turn that off?”

          She narrowed her eyes. “Turn what off?”

          “Y’know,” Karkat waved an arm over her. “ _That_. The glowy thing.”

          “Oh.” Kanaya examined herself. Looking down at her hands used to make her squint. The illumination is a facet of her body she has biologically adjusted to by now. “I must say I’m not entirely used the workings of it. For now I don’t think I can.”

          “Oh, well, that’s a shitty side affect.”

          “On the contrary. There’s never a need for a flashlight if we happen to run out of power. I’m also sufficient in dark corners.” That made Karkat grin at one corner of his mouth. “Does it bother your eyes?”

          “No. I’m just wondering if it’s permanent. So this is a bloodsucker thing?”

          “The politically correct term is ‘rainbow drinker’ but yes, it resembles many of the novels I have read regarding the subject. You must have encountered at least one at some point, given you’re fondness for complex romance.”

          “Okay, about that.” They turned a corner down a dimmer passageway, “this isn’t going to lead to an ambush while we’re sleeping, is it? The blood drinker thing, not my justified appreciation for the art of the heart.”

          She would be aggravated by the question if it wasn’t a legitimate concern. “No, I doubt there will be any more surprise outbursts than usual. My first tastes I assume you are referring to were under dire circumstances. I’m fine now. When I run dry again I’ll be sure to ask politely before feeding.” Kanaya opened her jaw and showed her fangs for dramatic effect. The fangs had always been there, so it made scarcely a difference.

          There was a conversation she had with Terezi over this. Terezi inquired with that usual morbid enthusiasm of hers what Kanaya’s own blood tasted like. Everyone else she asked told her drinking blood was an inappropriate gesture. The most she had gotten was a nibble under the hue of the skin. Sollux tasted like honey-mustard packets. Feferi’s was the jelly in sweet tarts. In response Kanaya informed her, point blank, all she felt in her mouth was blood. Sollux and Feferi’s blood had interchangeable flavors. There was no surprise inside.

          For now Kanaya hoped her light would never go out. Her skin was fleshy white. Extinguishing the glow would have look more like a living corpse than she already did.  

          “Rainbow drinkers.” Kanaya corrected again.

          “Whatever the fuck. It’s like being hydrated for you, right?” Karkat asked, “You’ll need some more blood soon, won’t you?”

          Kanaya’s hand ran over her veins. She was fine for now. “Yes.”

          “Who were you thinking of getting it from?”

          “Well, Rose has given an offer.”

          Karkat raised an eyebrow, considering it. ”Do you think human blood will even work?”

          “If not Terezi has also volunteered. She expressed she wants to ‘teach me her ways’.”

          “Well, if you ever need anything and there’s not anyone available then, uh,” Karkat unconsciously rubbed his neck.

          “I would appreciate that very much, Karkat.” Kanaya knew she should not smile, but couldn’t help it.

          “Well, as long as you don’t mind ‘tainted mutant blood’.” Sarcasm strikes the last three words.

          Kanaya shrugged. “It’s all the same to me.” There was silence again. In space all there was is void. While her current goal was to find the bodies the blood they had must be dry. “I haven’t had the chance to thank you, Karkat. For saving my life.”

          Karkat looked over to her. His eyes were still grey, nearly black, and if he continues surviving in years time they’d redden. He shrugged. “It’s not much to thank me for. After what you just told me.”

          “I think it is. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through in that moment.” When Eridan went on a rampage, Karkat was the only survivor left in the room. He had told her afterward of his attempt to revive her. They speculated maybe it related to his blood powers, maybe it didn’t. Karkat placed his hands in his pockets. “I’d understand if you don’t wish to discuss it-”

          “No, it’s fine. Really. _I’m_ fine. It’s just fucked up is all, how it all came together. But all that just means the Game’s working fine. Falling apart is a part of this Game. And had to flex my useless powers somehow. Still a pretty fucked up mechanic if you ask me.” Some aspects are simple to define, like Breath and Time, but ones like Blood are more vague to pin down.

          “Well, you have my gratitude regardless.”

          Kanaya no longer searched her mind for an excuse to stray away from Karkat. She hoped to not need one. The hunt and game will still be there for a good while. She knows the eyes of Paradox Space are watching them. Even so, the hole in her stomach continued to subside. The two stayed close beside the remainder of the way.

          Partway before the both of them reached the lab in the lofty lower sections a two headed behemoth of a boss from the game in laid slain in their way. It was the largest of the ones they battled, its shoulders blocking them from wall to wall. The cause for death was the tail of an arrow lodged in the masks.

          “Man, I don’t know how we’re going to haul this out of here.” Karkat said, kicking the heal of the Inquisiclops boot. It was true. For now they had to climb over the udders and leave it be.

          The lab was too big a job alone. There were a number of things Kanaya would not stand for, and one of them was a messy residence. When they entered she was prepared with fresh cloth and gloves in her modus. She started brushing away the smaller shards of broken glass, scattered about the larger ones over ten times her size. Those were only inconveniences compared to draining the fluids flooding the red tiles when the tanks shattered. A big mess.

          Karkat had wandered down a set of stairs to a room with stone walls and ripped posters. She overheard him mutter to himself

          “God, how did he even manage to get it _back_ here?”

          Maybe she could use this as an opportunity to excuse herself. Perhaps leave a note behind to keep from being rude.

          “JEGUSFUCK!”

          Kanaya hopped up at Karkat’s yelp. She placed aside her cleaning supplies and rushed down the stairs to where he was. “What’s the matter?!”

          Karkat had stumbled down to the floor next to a mass of machines. Before she could kneel beside him and offer help he stood back up, sticking an arm into the wiry guts and body parts of the bots.

          He sighed. “Oh, oh that’s not what I thought it was. That’s not so bad. Oh man.” Kneeling and following his sight, his hand pulled out a single discarded familiar claw. The three blades it had were spotted with green.

          “I thought,” he was panting, “I thought her fingers were still in it or something.”

          Beforehand Terezi had found Nepeta’s matching weapon in the secret room. It appears now they’ve located its twin.

          Kanaya was also short of breath, but for different reasons. She had ran so fast there was a rush in her head again. Her feet roamed to the other side of the room by a stack of crates, falling to her knees sucking in a breath. In her mind she prayed to not drip from her stomach again. Doing so before Karkat would be humiliating. And she was running out of outfits.

          Focus on other things. The floor could use a polishing. On the ground was spilled milk with broken glass around it. That would be easy to wipe away. There were splotches of dried blood on the floor which had gone unnoticed. Flecks of green and shades of blue, in places mixing into a murky brown. She may have to resort to rubbing it out from behind the cloth with her nails. No, not that. In front of her Karkat was staring somberly down at the claws in his hands. Kanaya worries for him. Perhaps this will pass. Kanaya brought her head down to her knees. Hopefully that cherry liquid could wait for now.

          Fastening her sight to a stone on the wall she came across the small handle on the wall in the connecting corner. Kanaya leaned in behind the crates to grip onto the handle and hauled it back. A rusted metal door pulled out a few centimeters. There was a sliver of light where it opened.

          “Karkat, come and help me with this.” Kanaya said. Using all her energy to push the top crate off.

          “If it’s a body part I swear to god…” she heard Karkat’s footsteps until he was beside her, seeing the light on the other end. “Find something back there?”

          “A door.”

          Moving to her side of the room he peered in beside Kanaya. Despite not being nearly as STRONG as Equius and being shorter than Kanaya he’s compact with enough strength to push a crate out and open the door partway. Just enough for their bodies to fit through.

          “Hey, you okay?” Karkat asked, reaching for her fingers. She clasped his palm. “Here, take some of this.” He had a tall glass of milk in his other hand.

          “Karkat…where did you get that from?” She was drained, not caring enough to keep her cadence. He began to answer but closed his mouth when her yellow and green eyes fell to the milk on the floor. “Is this…contaminated?”

          “Uh, I don’t think so. It was in the glass when I found it.” He handed her the glass. The drink at the bottom was still cool on her fingers. She needed it. Preferences be damned. She held it down as discretely as she could. It tasted like mucus. Bluh. But there was a better rush filling in the gaps. Sweet, sweet calcium and nutrients.

          Karkat led the way by squeezing in the space in the door. Moving to the other side she expected it to lead to another air vent Gamzee could be in, but it smelled nice on the inside. Another secret hideaway. Once in, there is wide enough room to stand up. The ground was solid and sturdy. There was writing on the wall, and the sight of it had them both halt in their tracks.

          On the wall were paintings, not only of the trolls but humans too. No space was left unmarked. It wasn’t like Terezi’s disjointed scribbles. Kanaya admired the colors and structured detail crafted into Nepeta’s depictions. They were all coordinating into quadrant groups. One of them was Kanaya herself, her former self standing before her, next to Rose drawn in plain white with a heart floating above their heads. Surrounding that were more pairings, like Sollux and Feferi, Dave and Tavros. Boy, she must have fallen short of the mark that day.

          “Nepeta had a whole system.” said Karkat, who was in almost all the pictures. His eyes rolled and mouth open in a yell.

          Down the turn of the hall he was drawn with Gamzee underneath a diamond (no comment on how Nepeta would feel about that now). By far the biggest picture was at the very end of the hall of himself and Nepeta sharing a kiss with the biggest heart above them. She noticed Karkat staring at it. Below their feet was written OTP in red.

          “It looks like two fish rammed into each other.” Karkat critiqued. He had informed her of the unrequited flushed “feels” for her but there wasn’t a single one of them that did not care for her. Nepeta was the baby kitten. The baby kitten who they’d seen dice up imps without assistance. The baby kitten who was found broken in a puddle of her blood along with her morail. His hands were fiddling with the claws. She could see, all of this was getting to him again.

          Kanaya pointed to the drawing on the wall directly before her to distract him. “Is that Jade auspisting between two of yourself?”

          Karkat leaned over to see. “Oh yeah. That’s a long and convoluted road that’s a waste of time to revisit. Just like time travel, and everything else involving us.”

          She looked to the drawing directly beside it, with a question mark drawn overhead. It was John in his God Tier outfit and someone wrapped in a clean sheet. “Does that resemble the Mayor to you?”

          “Who knows. There are a million of those Dersites running around.”

          Technically not anymore since Derse was destroyed but she did not bother to split another wound. Everyone who remembered residing on Derse had passed on anyway, Nepeta included.

          “Karkat.” While he was closer she reached over to take the claws from his hand, storing it in her Chastity Modus where he could not retrieve it. He’s open when he’s distracted or overheated. His hands grabbed for it she stared him down.

          The room had very much left Nepeta’s essence behind. Balls of yarn were uncoiled on the floor. In the middle of the hall was a teapot sitting atop a small hill of sugar cubes. Kanaya wanted to take that too, wanting own the purrl- Ahem. _Pearl_ grey color and exquisite design to herself. It belonged to Nepeta, but she could take it now. An unsaid permission to claim ownership. Looking at OTP once more, there was a signature on the tail of Nepeta's coat. A colon, the number zero, and an ending parentheses.

:0)

          He was here. He left his mark on something sacred. Kanaya wanted to kill him.

          By the flats of her shoes there were bolts left by the ground. Behind the crates was a grate door the size of a floor tile.

          “Oh look, another door.”

          Karkat spun around. “You’re kidding. There’s a fucking secret passageway in the secret hallway _behind_ the secret door?”

          “It would appear so.”

          Kanaya crept down to her hands and knees on the floor, pulling the door off and setting it aside. Holding a portion of her skirt so not to have her foot step on it, dipped her horns under the square and crawled in. Behind this was only a path of darkness, with five thin streaks of light at the end of where they were to guide the way. It was a grate leading to another room. Karkat knelt beside her.

          “So _this_ is how they got around so fast.” He mused while peering into the abyss.

          In the hours until the Scratch and many murders taking place the team had trouble keeping track of where or who would strike next. All that was synonymous was the occasional honk throughout the ship. It would be a place to search. At least discover some clue as to what the clown has been up to in there. Warm air brushed over her. At least it smelled fine, but her heightened senses could detect the metal walls seeming musty from the humidity. On the other hand the darkness was the most fitting home for her hunt. Warm and musty places are apt to attract spiders in the sleeping windpipe of the ship.

          “I want to go in.” said Kanaya.

          “Uh, alright.” There was a slight pause. “You go in first.”

          “Karkat, I wouldn’t expect you to be afraid of the dark.”

          “Of course I’m not. But you’ve got better advantage of seeing in there.”

          “Oh, so you want me to be your flashlight?”

          “If you wouldn’t mind.”

          She rolled her eyes. A further view into the vent it was dark and dank and not clean overall. No way a clean skirt would make it out unharmed. She has extras, but this one was nice looking. Though it was snug she just about fit into the opening. Kanaya was so much brighter in darkness. Further in she awaited a moment for her companion to enter. Karkat didn’t seem to have as much trouble or care for his clothing. They moved on. There was almost no possibility of being silent in here. Crammed and sliding along in the metal. Shuffling echoed on the walls.  Navigation was not a concern. He would look around while she listened.

          Squinting through the grate Kanaya could make out a discarded cavelreaper jousting spear on the other side. Stuffed bears were ripped and eviscerated. More blood to clean up.

          That was the end of the corridor, squeezing into a turn. This lead was a dead end when screech.

          “Do you hear that?” Kanaya asked. She heard subtle tapping down the corridor where her light could not reach. She did not even wait for answer this time. Someone was with them in the stifled narrowness of the vents. When she crawled onward Karkat followed in tow. There was no plan to go off of. Only the weapon to protect snug in her skirt pocket. Moving on the tapping sound not only became louder but more diverse with swoops and curves. A figure came into view.

          Red sneakers and different chalk drawings.

          “Terezi?” The girl in red sunglasses picked up a blue piece of chalk by her feet. Karkat bumped into the back of Kanaya’s legs. He crawled over between the narrow space between her side and the wall. “What are you doing?”

          Terezi was crouched down with her chalk pieces dumped around her knees. The box had been torn apart. The tapping sound was the blind girl using a green piece to shape the feline features on her sketches on the metal interior. Her hand was careful. There were sketches of all their other friends surrounding it. Each of them were simpler and one color. Their eyes were lopsided and arms and legs were sticks. A pink fish empress. A flying bronze cavalreaper. A pretty red adventurer in a fedora. A violet seadweller wrapped in a scarf and clutching a gun. A boy in dirty yellow with mismatched red and blue eyes and static surrounding him.

          Terezi did not have her usual smile. She picked up a completely new blue piece from the ground and shoved it in Karkat’s face. He backed away from her and only stared her chalk-coated hands.

          “Here,” said Terezi, “you draw Equius.”

          His fingers slowly took it. “Alright, but don’t expect it to look any good.” He pulled over to the wall, planning out with a delicacy only seen in him when mapping out plans. “Kanaya could you, um come a bit closer for light?” She leaned in as he started off with a circle. A triangle chest. Square glasses and teeth. One essential shape to the next.

          “Wow, Karkat. It looks like Equius stuffed his arm with baseballs.” Kanaya said with newfound Human Sarcasm.

          “Shut up. You don’t have to tell me. I’m taking it from memory and I’m doing the best I can do.”

          “I don’t think that’s the only reason.”

          “Alright so I didn’t spend all my time in a cave with nothing better to do. You have a crack at it.”

          Kanaya crawled over to the torn box. Only a few pieces were left whole. She selected another blue one, light blue. It was sad to her to grind down such clean-cut items with no chance of getting more for the next sweep. She scooted to the blank space on the wall beside Karkat’s portrait. Her hand started with a curve for the cheek.

          “So what is the purpose of this, Terezi?” Kanaya asked.

          “Well it doesn’t really have a real purpose.” said Terezi. “I was just thinking about them.”

          Kanaya’s hand stopped mid-draw. “Oh. Then may I ask why Aradia and Sollux are on the wall?”

          “Well, they died at some point.”

          “This is true.”

           Kanaya recalled Rose speaking of such customs for the deceased on her Earth planet. She believed she called it a “memorial”.

          “Does that mean we need to draw Kanaya now too?” Karkat asked. “I mean, she was technically declared deceased before she went rainbow-drinker Light Bright.”

          Kanaya sighed. “At least you remembered the correct term.”

          “You have a point, I guess.” Terezi said, coloring in Nepeta’s coat, “But, well, I don’t count it personally. No offence, Kanaya.”

          “None taken.”

          “Then what the hell do you count as dead?” asked Karkat, his voice booming in the vent.

          “It’s just that I miss them.”

          Karkat waved his hand from his artistic masterpiece “What do you mean? We see them all the damn time in the bubbles. This meteor has become the number one pit stop for ghost hangouts.”

          “Yeah but they’re not really here anymore. And Aradia’s always busy tending to ghost stuff, Sollux is always mopey, and everyone else who’s legitimately dead hasn’t been found yet. I just miss us being together. As a team.”

          Karkat scoffed. “I would miss it more if we were one to begin with.”

          “Okay, but that doesn’t make me wish for what happened to them.” Silence.

          “Alright.” said Karkat. “I didn’t either. Let’s leave it at that.”

          “So how are you doing by the way, Kanaya?” Terezi asked.

          “I’m steadily getting used to it, thank you for asking.” Kanaya clapped the blue dust off of her fingers. “I’m done here.”

          Karkat leaned over to get glimpse at the completed picture. A portrait from the shoulders up of a girl with eight eyes behind her glasses, horns as sharp as the fangs in her smile.

          “Wow, I didn’t know you could draw so good, Kanaya.” said Karkat.  
“That’s better than Vriska deserved.”

          “Well, every now and again I would sketch outfits back home.” This reminded her of her lusus. It compelled her to do a smaller sketch on the side. Karkat and Terezi joined in. Dragons and crab creatures and spiders and tinkerbulls and seahorses and undersea horrors and more. The white piece was almost completely used up.

          Karkat’s was still scribbles like Terezi’s. “Well I think yours are good in my eyes.” She said.

          “Well thank you. Glad to know somebody apreate-” her joke sunk in. “Oh you think you’re so funny, don’t you?” Terezi smiled, her unique giggle underneath.

          This brought thoughts that frequently haunt her. Only the four of them were left of their race. Discounting the lack of a Mother Grub, the process their options for reproduction of the population were less than slim. Karkat and Terezi would pair out fine but that would leave her and…UGHGH! No. Do not think such thoughts now. There’s no worse place to vomit than an air vent.

          “Is there anything who died we forgot?” Terezi asked.

          “Oh,” Kanaya reached for the torn chalk box again and grabbed a used grey piece. It was round at the top from overuse. She drew a near perfect sphere on the wall. She outlined all the provinces she could recall. Then she pulled out bright pink and green for two smaller circles outside of it.

          Each of them recognized it without the need for accuracy a person or lusus would have. Alternia.

          “I believe this is what is referred to as a ‘moment of silence’.” said Kanaya.

          The three sat there, looking over their chalk drawings and of friends and caretakers they lost. Kanaya was sure the Clown would ruin this. It was an open opportunity to make humorous with his pension for sadistic humor. All it would require is a horn to diminish the impact. If not this moment, then when they all leave the vents and desecrate it at a later time. Her ears perked up. The darkness was tangible beyond her own light space but it did not make a sound.

          For now, it was peaceful. She held back, hearing only sound being the ship forever exhaling a dying breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments always appreciated. :-)


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